Ambridge police shoot, kill dog in station parking lot while searching for its owner

AMBRIDGE, Pa. (KDKA) -- Ambridge police said they shot and killed a dog after it got loose while officers were looking for its owner.

KDKA spoke with a woman who saw it unfold, leaving her traumatized.

Barb Marenic is haunted by what happened at work Friday afternoon. The images continue to replay in her head.

"It just ripped my heart out just to see that," Marenic said holding back tears. "I heard like a shot."

Sitting in her office, she looked out the window and saw an Ambridge police officer with a gun and a dog struggling to move and bleeding. Marenic ran outside and screamed.

"'What did you do? What happened? What did you do'" Marenic said to the officer.

Marenic said the officer had his head in his hands and was pacing.

"He said, '[The dog] came at me,' and he was like, 'Oh god, oh god,'" Marenic said.

According to police, they covered the dog with cardboard, believing she was dead.

"She tried to sit up, she wasn't deceased, and there was just blood. She was just bleeding out. There was just blood running down the parking lot," Marenic said.

For the next 40 minutes, Marenic said the dog lay there suffering as police called local vets and the Beaver County Humane Society. In talking with the latter, police said they decided "it was best to put the dog down" and shoot it again.

Hours earlier, a woman found the dog on 23rd and Lenz and snapped photos of it licking her before calling the police to pick it up. She told KDKA the dog was sweet.

Shortly after, the department shared a lost dog post on Facebook that's since been deleted, with photos of the pit bull mastiff mix going for a ride-a-long and calling it "pleasant."

Later on, police revealed the dog had no tags and no chip, and they put it in an outdoor kennel.

They said when they went to take it to the humane society, it became aggressive, trying to bite an officer's hand and then biting his leg. Eventually, they said, the dog escaped the kennel and charged and lunged at an officer, which, they said, gave the officer no choice but to shoot it.

Alison Yazer, executive director of the Beaver County Humane Society, released a statement that said, in part, they don't have an animal control contract with Ambridge, they're "saddened by the outcome," and "officers have the right to defend themselves in a dangerous situation."

As for Marenic, she feels the police could have handled things differently.

"Animals can't speak for themselves, but somebody has to speak for them, and I'm trying," Marenic said.

Ambridge police told KDKA they're not commenting further at this time but will release additional details this coming week.

An owner has yet to come forward and claim the dog.